Hi I've had many cars, and 2 Honda Accords. I was the 2nd owner of a 1992 Honda Accord (the original owner was a med school student: how bad can that be, I thought), bought with 123,000 miles. I added about 5000 miles. In that time, I've replaced the timing chain & water pump, fuel filter, muffler, exhaust system pipes (several times. They keep rusting away), radiator, radiator cap, cv joints, main relay (apparently a common problem, caused by shoddy solder, which makes the car impossible to start when the interior is hot). I discovered that, underneath the pretty exterior, the car is rusting away. This revealed itself by the back quarterpanel detaching itself, only being held on because both back panels and the back bumper are one piece. This was bolted on, now the other side is hanging. The trunk also has a mystery leak (at the Honda forum, they said to use adhesive around the tail lights). The final straw was finding out that the occasional blinking around the "D" on the shift indicator meant that the transmission was going. Apparently the solenoid went bad, it killed the main relay, and is taking the rest of the transmission with it. My Honda happily exceeded the speed limit, and handled responsively. But now, my Honda is calling Dr. Kevorkian.

My mechanic said that Honda built great cars, except for the transmissions (2 of the top 10 cars with the most complaints are Hondas with transmission problems). Aside from my car, he had an Odyssey & another Honda in for transmission repairs. I've just had enough. Used Hondas cost a fortune, need alot of expensive repairs. I had narrowed my selection down to the Kia Spectre or Hyundai Elantra, but the interior of the Hyundai was the deciding factor. It's much more roomy than the Kia, less like you're crammed into a space shuttle seat (as with the Cobalt).

I've read that Hyundai Elantras are reliable, which is what I need. They hardly get a mention at carcomplaints.com! I have many questions, and hope to learn alot from all of you.

 

First, let me say Honda makes great cars. However, so does Hyundai but for much less money.

Are you looking for a new or used car? Forget the Kia Spectra. It's old and out dated. It's being replaced by the 2010 Kia Forte. While the Elantra is an easy choice over the Spectra, it's not so clear cut between the Elantra and the new Forte. Take a look at the Forte before going with the Elantra. The Elantra is great but I'd choose the Forte over it. And it looks very Civic-like:

http://www.edmunds.com/kia/forte/2010/index.html



The best thing is, the Forte is available with the optional (and much better) 2.4L Theta engine. The Elantra is only available with the 2.0L Beta (the base Forte engine).

 

I also appeciate the more powerful engine. In NYC, sometimes you just have to move quickly, or you'll be stuck in a toll lane or going somewhere unwanted. And power is always appeciated on the highway.

But, I'm stuck buying used, not new *sigh*. Hard to believe that there's only about $6000.00 difference between a 2005 and a 2009 Hyundai Elantra! Unfortunately I can't even turn in my old honda in the cash for clunkers program, as they won't take anything over 18 mpg. The only trouble is that they determine the mpg as if the car had spent its years living in Jay Leno's garage, not out on the streets, bashed by a hit & run, back panel falling off. That certainly cuts down on milage!

 

Check out the deals/rebates Kia is giving out before you buy. You may find you can afford a Forte.

 

Welcome to the Hyundai Forums, glad you picked us for your home...

WheelBroker 1

 

I too started my car search with the Kia Forte, but the Optima was priced nearly the same (after the $3k cash rebate) but was larger and more upscale. I then realized the sister car of the Optima was the Hyundai Sonata, which also had a $3k cash rebate and had been redesigned for 2009 (primarily the interior was redesigned). After reading a lot and taking a testdrive, I got the Sonata and have been very happy with it for the past 4 days.